The Faith Healer Part 36

_As he pushes them roughly back, excited voices speak together._

VOICES IN THE CROWD.

Where is he?--They say he's gone away. We seen his boy makin' for the woods.--Oh, it's not true! Make him come out.

BEELER.

Curse you, keep back, I say!

_Rhoda has entered from the hall, and Martha from the kitchen. The two women support Mrs. Beeler, who remains standing, the fear deepening in her face._

A VOICE.

_On the outskirts of the crowd._

Where's he gone to?

BEELER.

He's here. In the next room. Keep back! Here he comes now.

_Michaelis appears in the hall door. There is a low murmur of excitement, expectation, and awe among the people crowded in the entrance. Beeler crosses to help his wife, and the other men step to one side, leaving Michaelis to confront the crowd alone.

Confused, half-whispered exclamations:_

VOICES IN THE CROWD.

Hallelujah! Emmanuel!

A NEGRO.

Praise de Lamb.

A WOMAN.

_Above the murmuring voices._

"He hath arisen, and His enemies are scattered."

MICHAELIS.

Who said that?

_A woman, obscurely seen in the crowd, lifts her hands and cries again, this time in a voice ecstatic and piercing._

A WOMAN.

"The Lord hath arisen, and His enemies are scattered!"

MICHAELIS.

His enemies are scattered! Year after year I have heard His voice calling me--and year after year I have said, "Show me the way." And He showed me the way. He brought me to this house, and He raised up the believing mult.i.tude around me. But in that hour I failed Him, I failed Him. He has smitten me, as His enemies are smitten.--As a whirlwind He has scattered me and taken my strength from me forever.

_He advances into the room, with a gesture backward through the open door._

In yonder room a child lies dead on its mother's knees, and the mother's eyes follow me with curses.

_At the news of the child's death, Mrs. Beeler has sunk with a low moan into a chair, where she lies white and motionless. Michaelis turns to her._

And here lies one who rose at my call, and was as one risen; but now--

_He breaks off, raises his hand to her, and speaks in a voice of pleading._

Arise, my sister!

_She makes a feeble gesture of the left hand._

Rise up once more, I beseech you!

_She attempts to rise, but falls back helpless._

BEELER.

_Bending over her._

Can't you get up, Mother?

_She shakes her head._

MICHAELIS.

_Turning to the people._

Despair not, for another will come, and another and yet another, to show you the way. But as for me--

_He sinks down by the table, and gazes before him, muttering in a tragic whisper._

Broken! Broken! Broken!

CURTAIN

ACT III

_The next morning, just before sunrise. Both door and windows are open, and a light breeze sways the curtains. Outside is a tree-shaded and vine-clad porch, with bal.u.s.trade, beyond which is a tangle of flowering bushes and fruit trees in bloom. The effect is of a rich warm dawn--a sudden onset of summer weather after a bleak spring._